[The New Yorker] Alex Jones, the First Amendment, and the Digital Public Square

CNN and Darcy on a jihad to get their critics deplatformed, Jones confronts him in the same manner journalists do all the time, Twitter bans Jones

it's pretty obvious Twitter's rules are completely arbitrary

 

This BBS rules are arbitrary.

Clutch can ban anyone he wants.

And Alex Jones harassing people like this is pathetic. And no, journalists don't go up to people and yell "you are the enemy of the people", "you are anti-american" etc..


Stop being a dumb ass for commending another dumb ass.

 

Please provide an example of a journalist cornering someone and confronting them in this manner with a string of personal insults.

I have no sympathy whatsoever for this dirtbag.

 

Twitter and Facebook are private actors, so they can limit or modify speech. I somewhat agree with the argument that they are so large and omnipresent that they operate almost like public utilities.

Having said that, I don’t like that Twitter and Facebook have banned Alex Jones or any other group voicing their opinions. I prefer more open speech even if the person speaking is an idiot like Alex Jones.

 

You thinking that was in any way appropriate says a lot about you.

 

Serious question, as you seem to me like a basically decent, sane person. Are you supporting Alex Jones in some way? To me, it's beyond politics. He's toxic and harmful, praying on the weak-minded who are prone to fear. He may even be mentally ill. If he's not mentally ill and is cognizant of the false crazy toxicity he spreads, he's nearly criminal for what he does to people and their mental states. It's almost a form of domestic psychological terrorism.

On the other hand, I guess if you're just all about an ALCU type of preservation of 1st amendment as broadly as possible, I could understand that. (And we would have to leave aside for now whether or not he is basically screaming "fire!" falsely into a crowded theater 24/7.)

But man oh man, I would want to make that 1st amendment argument standing up for someone who is actually political. Jones is not. Jones is simply some combo of nasty, harmful, and crazy. And I think private companies, if they give you a chance to use their services or visit their shop or what-have-you, have the right to refuse service based on any behavior that directly affects their product.

It's not like they won't serve a cake to a gay couple. It's like they won't let a gay couple sit in their cake shop and spray pink icing all over the straight customers all day long. LOL.

 

He appears to have been banned from Twitter for overt harassment, not having an unpopular opinion.

 

Dude is just like a cult leader, when you think about it.

 

Jim Jones....Alex Jones....coincidence?

 

We weren't discussing the legality of hate speech. The issue is that current conservative politics have adopted hate speech in various forms. So the notion that conservatives claim they're being censored by private companies for their views is silly when those views are hate speech that violate terms of service. The only free speech conservatives are concerned with is hate speech because it's part of who they've become. If they couldn't deride people based on race, gender, and ethnicity along with goofy conspiracy theories they'd have little to talk about

 

They always come for the fringe targets first to see what they can get away with.

Alex Jones has millions of people that want to hear what he has to say. I'm not one of them, but I don't feel compelled to deny them that interaction. People should be free to curate their own content.



Anitfa and The Muslim Brotherhood perpetuate and promote actual violence, yet have not been banned from Twitter. Bannings are arbitrary and one sided.

 

So if you started calling Clutch names and organizing harassment of people on here you didn't like, and generally violated the rules of the BBS - that in your eyes would be censorship????

People get banned on this site for what they write. How do you feel about it? Do you feel that Clutchfans is another liberal media site?

Was I censored unfairly when NewYorker was banned?

 

Twitter can ban anyone who violates their code of conduct. If they want to prioritize banning individuals who are also the worst offenders in spreading misinformation, that’s fine by me.

 

Twitter's "code of conduct"

 

Do you think Alex Jones would not have been banned from Clutch fans?

 

Then he should follow the guidelines, and not complain if he gets booted off the platform for failing to do so. It really isn’t that hard.

 

arbitrary

 

Dr. Oz with unchecked mental issues, and on steroids.

He's a shyster, a charlatan, a carnival barker. No wonder certain people gravitate toward him. He's free to say whatever the hell he wants, and I hope the aggrieved parties sue and bankrupt him back to the stone age where he belongs.

 

The only true solution is to have an educated audience.

Policing discourse is a patch that at best is a short term fix, and at worse turns the system into an Orwellian state ruled by giant corps.

The popularity of Infowars simply shows the level of ignorance of the populace. In a better educated society, the likes of Jones would have been relegated to shouting by the road side about how he was kidnapped by aliens as a kid and the looming end of days

 

I have an idea.

Study computer science and engineering .

And then create your own social media platform.

And then decide who ever the **** you want on it.

Capitalism. Deal with it .